On the Next Major Spoilers Podcast – 2012

For those of you who want to be a part of the complete Major Spoilers Experience, and want to participate in the Major Spoilers Podcast, we’re giving you a heads up on the trade paperbacks we will be reviewing in the near future.

Part one of a three-part graphic novel prequel series delving into the origins of the Skeksis, Mystics, Gelflings, the world of Thra and the Dark Crystal itself. Spanning a time period from thousands of years ago to right up to the start of the original Jim Henson film, this graphic novel epic will tell the definitive origin of the Dark Crystal, under the supervision of The Jim Henson Company and The Dark Crystal concept designer Brian Froud.

T – TEEN (12 and up, may contain mild violence or mild profanity)

January 17
Usagi Yojimbo Book 6 – Circles
Circles features the graphic-novel-length epic title story, in which Usagi returns to his native village only to find everything very different indeed. (The discovery that his mentor, whom he thought dead, is actually alive and kicking is only the first of the shocks that await him.) “Circles” is an epic adventure, a love story, and one of the most affecting Usagi stories ever. In addition to the 80-page “Circles,” this volume includes “The Bridge,” “The Duel,” and the hard-to-find “The Tangled Skein” from Critters #38. Jam-packed with lethal sword battles alternating with humor, horror, suspense and slapstick, this beautifully crafted and exciting volume (with an introduction by Jeff Smith creator of Bone) is both an excellent starting point for new readers, and an absolute necessity for Usagi completists. Black-and-white comics throughout

January 24
Infinity Gauntlet
It’s the Avengers, the New Warriors, the X-Men and more against the omnipotent Eternal, Thanos! The Mad Titan has become the most powerful being in the universe, and enslavement or destruction may be the only choices he gives it! The successive Starlin sagas that shook space and time start here!

January 31
Star Wars Omnibus: A Long Time Ago – Volume 5
The classic-era Star Wars adventures conclude in this fifth and final volume of Star Wars Omnibus: A Long Time Ago…. All your favorite characters are here – Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewie, the droids, and more – bringing peace to a recently liberated galaxy, and finding new troubles confronting them! With nearly six hundred pages of material, this massive omnibus collects Marvel Comics” Star Wars #86-107, their final US-published issues!

FEBRUARY

February 07

Daredevil Born Again
Writer: Frank Miller
Artist: David Mazzucchelli
“Born Again” is a Daredevil story arc written by Frank Miller, drawn by David Mazzucchelli and published by Marvel Comics. The story arc originally appears in Daredevil #227-#233.

The story details Daredevil’s fall to insanity and destitution at the hands of the Kingpin, as well as his subsequent struggle to build a new life for himself.

February 14
The Manara Library Volume 2

Dark Horse continues to bring the works of Italian comics master Milo Manara to American audiences with Volume 2 of The Milo Manara Library! This deluxe hardcover, newly translated by Eurocomics expert Kim Thompson, features the sweeping historical epic El Gaucho, the second of Manara”s storied collaborations with his mentor Hugo Pratt, author of the internationally acclaimed Corto Maltese. Rounding out this volume is “Trial by Jury,” a series of shorts, never before published in the US, in which some of history”s most notorious figures undergo a mock trial. The Manara Library offers English-language readers a chance to experience the illustrative storytelling of a true comics master.

February 21OLD MAN LOGAN

MARK MILLAR and STEVE MCNIVEN–who last teamed for the monumental CIVIL WAR–bring us the most important WOLVERINE story of the 21st century. Nobody knows what happened on the night the heroes fell. All we know is that they disappeared and evil triumphed and the bad guys have been calling the shots ever since. What happened to Wolverine is the biggest mystery of all. For 50 years, no one has heard hide nor hair from him…and in his place stands anold man called Logan. A man concerned only about his family. A man pushed to the brink by the HULK GANG. A man forced tohelp an old friend–the blind archer, HAWKEYE–drive three thousand miles to secure his family’s safety. Get ready for the ride of your life, Logan.

February 29
Wapsi Square

MARCH

March 07Longbow Hunters
In this graphic tale of introspection, Green Arrow is repositioned as a realistic and relatable character who experiences and acts on true emotions. After moving to Seattle on his fortieth birthday with his girlfriend, the Black Canary, the Green Arrow begins to look back at his life and the decisions that he’s made. But before the two heroes can settle in, they are drawn into a web of grisly murders, trafficked drugs and unspeakable violence. Joined by the mysterious female Yakuza archer Shado, the Emerald Archer makes a monumental split second-decision as he takes a life to save the life of the Black Canary. Intense and authentic, THE GREEN ARROW: THE LONGBOW HUNTERS is an amazing exploration into the character of Green Arrow.

March 14Conan Volume 11: Road of Kings
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciller: Mike Hawthorne
Inker: John Lucas, Jason Gorder
Colorist: Dave Stewart, Dan Jackson
Cover Artist: Doug Wheatley
The journey down the legendary Road of Kings is no walk in the park. Being a skilled fighter will only get you so far; you’ll also need plenty of gold to keep you going. Luckily, Conan and his companions are skilled at separating the wealthy from their spare treasure! But they’ll have to brave monsters, pursuing guards, and the sword-handed Gamesh if they’re to reach their final destination. Collects Conan: Road of Kings #1-#6.

March 21
Mage: The Hero Discovered
Writer: Matt Wagner
Artist: Matt Wagner
The Hero Discovered follows Kevin Matchstick, an alienated young man who meets a wizard called Mirth and discovers that he, among other things, possesses both a magic baseball bat and superhuman abilities. In the course of the comic, he defeats the nefarious plans of a being called the Umbra Sprite. He ultimately discovers that Mirth is Merlin, the baseball bat is Excalibur, and he is, in some ambiguous way, King Arthur. All the chapter titles are lines from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

March 27The Reaper of St. George Street
Arriving in haunted St. Augustine to attend college, skeptic Will is soon thrust into a mystery he wants no part of. But the girl he is falling in love with needs his help to rid her of the nightmares plaguing her sleep. Aided by a motley crew of ghost hunters—a pickpocket, a modern-day witch, a retired pirate, and a comic book nerd—Will must discover why a murderous poltergeist named the Reaper of St. George Street is wreaking havoc. Filled with characters you’ll come to love and some laugh-out-loud humor, The Reaper of St. George Street will keep you turning pages until this mystery is solved.

April 10
The Goon – Chinatown and the Mystery of Mr. Wicker
Dark Horse is very proud to present the first original graphic novel from Eisner Award-winning creator Eric Powell. Powell has been sowing the seeds of Chinatown and the Mystery of Mr. Wicker for years in his bimonthly series The Goon, and salivating fans may now feast their eyes on the Goon’s formative backstory of love, loss, and extortion – a lengthy tale that demanded to be told in this uninterrupted format. Spiritual leader of Tennessee and hero to the Great Unwashed, Powell escaped catastrophic death and mother-shaming scandal to bring this work to fruition. He’s a sensitive man in insensitive times. But be warned: This book ain’t funny.

April 24
Punisher: Circle of Blood
The series that started the Punisher’s road to solo success! Having escaped prison and started a gang war, the Punisher’s fighting both sides of the law – but his deadliest enemy may be a conspiracy playing one side against the other! Can he figure out who to trust, who to use and who to kill?

MAY

May 1COURTNEY CRUMRIN, VOL. 1: THE NIGHT THINGS, SPECIAL EDITION
Writer: Ted Naifeh
Artist: Ted Naifeh with Warren Wucinich
Format: 6” x 9”, Hardcover, Full Color
Page Count: 144
Price: $19.99
Genre: Horror/Fantasy
Age Rating: Y – All Audiences!
ISBN: 978-1-934964-77-4
DESCRIPTION: Fan-favorite and critical darling Courtney Crumrin is back in a series of newly remastered, full color hardcover editions! Courtney’s parents have dragged her out to a well-to-do suburb to live with her creepy Great Uncle Aloysius in his spooky old house. And while Courtney prepares for a boring ‘burb existence, strange and magical things are swirling in her new home town. These “night things” promise to banish the mundane from her life and set her on a new destiny of sorcery, monsters, and the scariest thing of all—growing up.

May 15
STAR WARS: LEGACY—WAR TPB

It’s an all-out war as the Sith emperor returns from the dead-stronger, more evil, more determined, and prepared to unleash a new secret weapon upon the galaxy! Roan Fel’s loyalist Imperials, the Galactic Alliance, and the Jedi are all on the defensive-reeling from the attacks by the unified Sith.

But Cade Skywalker has his own plans for this war–all this time spent running from his legacy has finally shown him that he can’t run . . . and he must stand alone against Darth Krayt! Collects the six-issue miniseries.

May 22
Ultraduck
Carlos, a regular duck living in the great city of Featherbay, just got dumped by his girlfriend, his life as a freelance do-it-all is going nowhere and must make some grown up decisions: to get a real job, get his girl back and stop drinking. That is, until he gets super powers and becomes the only duck in the world who can stop a powerful creature who’s destroying the city on a vengeful rampage, and an evil weapons manufacturing corporation who want his abilities.

June 5 X:MEN: God Loves, Man Kills
The story concerns a minister, the Reverend William Stryker, stirring up religious anti-mutant fervor and kidnapping Professor X in an attempt to eradicate all mutants. It is one of the most clear-cut examples of X-Men comics using mutant relations as a metaphor for real life race relations as well as being a general critic of prejudice and what was the growing political clout of televangelists.

JUNE 12
Empowered Volume 07
While costumed crimefighter Empowered makes a startling discovery regarding her unfortunate status as an all-too-frequent “damsel in distress,” her hard-drinking best friend, Ninjette, confronts her own sordid past, violent present, and frighteningly uncertain future as she fights a desperate, single-handed battle against an entire clan of supernaturally durable ninja warriors. Can our two hard-luck heroines also withstand the further perils posed by supervillainous minivans, dueling sets of “daddy issues,” doomed-but-still-hot boyfriends, undead karaoke party-crashers, and even “spoiler alerts from hell itself” foretold by infernally omniscient demonspawn?

JUNE 19

JUNE 26
Blacksad: Silent Hell
Detective John Blacksad returns, with a new case that takes him to a 1950s New Orleans filled with hot jazz and cold-blooded murder! Hired to discover the fate of a celebrated pianist, Blacksad finds his most dangerous mystery yet in the midst of drugs, voodoo, the rollicking atmosphere of Mardi Gras, and the dark underbelly that it hides!

July 03
Mike Norton’s Battlepug Volume 1
The epic tale of blood and drool begins here! Join Molly and her dogs Mingo and Colfax, as she recounts the legend of “The Warrior and the Battlepug”—a tale of a fearless barbarian, his trusty and freakishly large pug, and evil baby harp seals. This volume collects the first year of Mike Norton’s Battlepug—the perfect opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the fan-favorite webcomic by Mike Norton, Allen Passalaqua, and Crank!

July 10
DRAGON AGE: THE SILENT GROVE VOLUME 1 (HARDCOVER COLLECTION)
Available in print for the first time, Dragon Age: The Silent Grove is the perfect introduction to BioWare’s dark fantasy universe! In this essential, canonical story from David Gaider, lead writer of the games, King Alistair, accompanied only by rogues Isabela and Varric, embarks on a quest deep inside the borders of Antiva—a nation of assassins! Together, they will encounter a prison break, dragons, the mysterious Witch of the Wilds, and one of the greatest secrets in the history of the world!

Fantasy is a serious business for this team, as they scour fictional worlds to right dangerous anomalies and preserve the balance between reality and imagination. But recently, a rash of unexplained disturbances across the fictional universe has started to tear it apart, and they face the ultimate challenge when the mysterious Agent X threatens to bring down the barriers between our world and the world of stories. Dive headlong into the madcap, mind-bending world of the FICTIONAUTS!

The Invisibles
Girl Genius

Y: The Last Man Volume Whatever we’re up to

DECEMBER

December 11
RASL

December 18Starman Omnibus Volume 05
The acclaimed series STARMAN, starring a Gen-X super hero from the 1990s, is re-presented in high quality format. In this volume, Starman embarks on a personal space odyssey to find the long lost brother of his girlfriend. But when a chance encounter sends Starman sprawling through time, Jack ends up sharing an adventure with the futuristic Legion of Super-Heroes, battling aliens alongside Adam Strange and meeting Superman’s father on a still intact planet Krypton.

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